Putting the lotty to bed

This is the last photo of growing things for this year.  There are still loads of flowers and unripe strawberries on the plants and the rhubarb yielded three pounds of glorious stuff before this shot was taken.  I know I am not supposed to pick it this year but really how can you see three pounds of puddings rot away?

You might notice I have removed the bird netting until next Spring to help preserve it.

This is what the other two beds looked liked when we left.  Covered in cardboard to stop the weeds.

We also laid down down weed suppressing cardboard - aka Ikea boxes - where I want two more beds to go.  Fingers crossed that happens over the winter some time.  I am on a promise.

So, here we go - farewell lotty.  We'll check again next month but then that is pretty much it until next April.

Food again!

I know I recently wrote that this blog wasn't supposed to be about cooking but about gardening..... I know....I know.......... but the two are inextricably linked for me.  The whole purpose of the lotty is to grow stuff to eat!

I am still using up our spuds and have started on the beans we put in the freezer.  Yesterday we had ham (2 lbs weight?) which I roast in the oven for a couple of hours covered for the first one and a half hours and open for the other half hour at 180  degrees.  The point of this post though was to share the spud 'recipe' - more a method really but it is one of my absolute favourites because it is just a case of lobbing it in the oven with something slow roasting like the ham (or any other joint) and bob's your whatnot.

I am sorry the photo is a half attacked dinner but that was the point I decided to share the spud method with you.  Look in the Recipe section at the top under B for Bakehouse potatoes.

Photo albums

I have 58 web albums out there and have just discovered today that the link I have been happily posting here there and everywhere does not take you to them!  Apparently the (not-so) wonderful Picasa web albums doesn't have a single link to 'all albums' which you can pass out to folk - only a single link to each album.  Aaaaarrrggh!  This meant I have to sort out 58 albums between 11 blogs - and, believe me, it is a laborious process.  I have made a start and some blogs, like this one, are sorted.  

The irony is that when you get to a single album all you have to do to access all of them is click on the heading which says 'Marilyn Ormson's Gallery'.

Do as I say not as I do

Here's the list of my jobs for September.... yours will certainly be hugely different but maybe there is a reminder here for you:

Scarify the lawn - this will be the second September I haven't done it - just don't want to
Plant garlic Thermidrome - mmm not sure ...don't really want that amount of garlic
Plant tulips (add bonemeal)
Handful of bonemeal per square yard for the lawn sometime
Plant free daffs (from Summerseat)
Plant new strawberries in Ikea bag keep at the house until next year
Clean out the greenhouse (kill the monster cucumber plant)
Dig up last of potatoes
Pick last strawberries
Probably put the lotty to bed
Probably put outside furniture away
Slug pellet garden and bio slug pellet lotty
Cover lotty beds in cardboard to keep weeds down for next spring
Cover areas in lotty for new beds

Simplest is sometimes best

What we eat through the summer is dictated by what the lotty has produced that day/week.  We had our first rush of tomatoes and it set off a yen for fried - tomatoes - haven't had them in years.  Generous blob of unsalted butter in the pan - in with the tomatoes, some salt, some pepper, small pinch of sugar and go at them with a high heat and keep stirring gently until they are mushed and starting to caramelise.  Just yummy.  

We had them slathered on a half of a part-baked baguette with Tesco Finest chipolata sausages - cooked in the oven - 30 minutes at 190 centigrade.  Too much of everything to make a butty so we had to just pile it on a plate and knife and fork it.  I promise you it was the best lunch/dinner in ages.

Still more goodies to come

on the turn

 A few days ago I got fed up with my greenhouse tomatoes not turning red.  The ones outside, doing battle with all weathers, are much further ahead.  These cosseted greenhouse ones are miles behind.

I knew when we put the greenhouse in it would be light deprived - it is surrounded on three sides by the house wall and two fences but I wanted it to start my seeds in each year.  This year - as I never get ripe tomatoes before we leave for the States I thought the greenhouse was the answer.  However, it would seem that light levels are way more important that warmth and protection from the weather.  So, as I said I turfed them out.  By the next day they had changed and now I can see them beginning to ripen.  Lesson learned for next year.  Start them off in the greenhouse but put them out when they have fruited.

nom, nom, nom

Another brilliant batch of strawberries, so pleased with them this year.  I hope they go on like this for years.  

The spoon is a teaspoon to give you a sense of the size of them.

I want a new gate

Dudmaston Hall

How about these for a pair of garden gates?  As you can see they are at Dudmaston Hall, Severn Valley, Shropshire.  We were there on the 15th during a week's break, split between Hopton Wafers and Woodhall Spa.

Mind you I suppose those are the back garden gates you have when this is (literally) your back garden.....